when we were young there was a doorbell - to ring if you wanted to be invited in - a horn to honk if you had to pass in traffic - a phone with one line to share with 7 other people and an awful squawking busy signal if someone tried to interrupt . at the beach - if a plane passed overhead it wrote symbols in the sky - all the kids tried to read the message before the wind blew it away - it must have been important - it must have been for adults only - when i got older i read those blustery words - advertisements: "ladies night" "two for tuesday" "sound the alarm" "this is a test" "1-800-nothing's-too-important" and i dove head first into the waves