The best of times and the worst of times

The best of times and the worst of times can not lift the veil of weariness from my overburdened shoulders. I am rarely alone these days because some shadow of either time appears.

After a good nights sleep I felt fantastic. I ate a hearty breakfast and went for a walk into a pleasant wood. Whilst admiring an interesting platypus in a stream, I noticed

a Red Helleborine blooming under a Bastard Quiver tree. A long-beaked Echidna shuffled by & I heard the call of a whistling tree frog. An Orangutan rode passed on a Nubian Wild Ass

and I instinctively sensed that the world I was observing would soon be no more. Taking a deep breath, I picked up the sweet scent of night-blooming violets...and something else.

Cabbage? Decomposing weasel? The scent of despair? Popcorn? I cranked up the Electronic Nose on my tablet and let it rip. Kapow! I just knew it... Just knew it. Would they ever

stop trying to improve on the peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I don't think so. I picked my Electronic Nose and thought about this for awhile.

Then it came to me. I also needed an Electric Tongue! I would keep the Nose company and would help me in my quest for the perfect sandwich. Sadly, development of the tongue

Was discontinued due to the Electric Tongue Company going out of business.I went to the offices at Taylor and California, only to find a parking lot. Bummer! I got back on the bus.

The Electric Tongue Company closing left me without a job, I thought, as got on the bus back to Omaha. What would I do? What would happen to my pet tarantulas, crying for food?